History of Art in Antiquity. kept in order ? ' Why, of all the palaces, should the largest and finest have been picked out for the express purpose, as it were, of having^ its constructions imperilled by so ill advised a mode of drainage ? Study of the ground suggests yet another remark. In the hypothesis which forms the subject of our discussion, the porches have walk at the farther end and at the inner sides. The sole means of communication between them and the central room are a few doorways pierced in the back wall ; circulation then flowed towards the exposed faces, which, being free and open, permitted the surging crowd to walk in comfort and at their ease between the widely spaced pillars, without let or hindrance. This was all very well for Uie eastern and anterior porch ; for in front of this stretched a terrace spacious enough for a double line of visitors to have moved at their ease. But the interval between the edge of the platform and the west portico was barely a yard wide ; the least pushing would thrust the surging crowd against the parapet and cause a blockage. If, on the contrary, we suppose the sides of the central pavilion to have been open, narrowness of space on the opposite side will not signify; access to and exit from the hall would be found in the avenue, more than twenty metres wide^ interposed between it and the lateral colonnades. The central pavilion is universally recognized as a throne-room, where* on stated days, the king received the homage of his subjects and foreign ambassadors. Some idea of what such a reception must have been may be gained from an Indian durbar. The monarch, seated on an devated stage, was for the nonce the dieu soUU upon whom all eyes were riveted. The greater the number of people that found accommodation within the precincts, and who could thus catch a near or distant glimpse of the august face, usually hidden from vulgar gaze, the bette r did the building fulfil the function for which it had been erected. In our opinion Fergusson*s restoration would but imperfectly have done this. The veil of lofty walls would effectually have excluded all those that were not lucky enough or bold enough to push their way into the hall ; nor could the phases of the ceremony have been witnessed from the door- ways, since one only on each face was in a line with the throne. As to the people congregated in the side porticoes, they would, of
- As our goienl plan is on too small a scale to show Flauidin and Cotte's
trjcing (/V/-M amtkHne^ Plate LXVIL), it has been left out. Digitized by Google
